LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM 397you will be called one who knows himself.^4 For someone who has not known
self has known nothing, but someone who has known self already has ac-
quired knowledge about the depth of the universe. So then, my brother
Thomas, you have seen what is hidden from people, what they stumble
against in their ignorance."
THE HIDDEN AND THE VISIBLE
Thomas said to the master, "For this reason I beg you to tell me what I ask be-
fore your ascension. When I hear from you about the hidden, I can speak of it.
And clearly it is hard to bring truth to people."
The savior answered and said, "If what is visible to you is obscure to you,
how can you comprehend what is invisible? If deeds of truth visible in the
world are hard for you to carry out, how will you do invisible things of exalted
greatness and fullness?^5 How can you be called workers? You are beginners
and have not attained the greatness of perfection."
Thomas answered and said to the savior, "Tell us about these things that
you say are not visible but are hidden from us."
The savior said, "All bodies have come into being in the same irrational
way that animals are produced, and so they are visible, as creatures lusting
after creatures. Those that are above, however, do not exist like those that are
visible. Rather, they live^6 from their own root, and it is their crops that nour-
ish them. These visible bodies feed on creatures that are like them, and so the
bodies are subject to change. Now, whatever is subject to change will perish
and be lost, and henceforth has no hope of life, because this body is an animal
body. Just as animal bodies perish, so also will these figures perish. Is it^7 not
from copulation like that of the animals? If it too is from copulation, how will
it give birth to anything different from them? So then you are children until
you become perfect."
Thomas answered, "So I say to you, master, those who speak about what is
invisible and difficult to explain are like people who shoot their arrows at a
target during the night. Of course, they shoot their arrows as any people do,
- This recalls the Delphic maxim "Know yourself" and Gospel of Thomas 3.
- This contrast between the visible and the invisible is a contrast between the lower world of
body, change, perishability, and animal nature and the higher world of soul, constancy, immor-
tality, and spiritual nature. This discussion resembles the discussion of the soul in Plato's Phaedo. - Coptic e[u]onh. Or, "they are visible" (Coptic e[uou]onh). The previous lines are partially
restored. - The body.